JP 04-348703 shows a depilating device having a depilating claw formed by a pair of rods arranged in series in the axial direction. A disadvantage of this kind of arrangement is that a small bridge structure between the rods needs to be strongly deformed when the depilating claw is closed.
EP 0 364 321 describes an epilator device that comprises a plate of resilient material in which a series of slits is provided to delimit a corresponding number of gripping strips. In a state of rest, the outer shape of the plate of resilient material has a convex shape and the slits are open to the exterior. The plate of resilient material can be actuated into a contracted state in which the slits are closed and the gripping strips are in a clamping action.
It is a disadvantage of the described epilator device that it needs to make use of the contractibility of the resilient material, which limits the material choices to materials having a low elasticity module such as soft rubber. Soft rubber material is not optimal for gripping and holding hairs as the hairs can locally deform the soft rubber material and hence glide out of the grip instead of being pulled out of the skin.
EP 0 442 419 describes an epilation apparatus that comprises a plurality of extraction means. Each extraction means comprises axially directed teeth borne by a base that are integral with an elastically deformable control mechanism so that the extraction means can occupy two positions. These two positions are an extraction position in which the teeth are brought closer together in order to grasp hairs and an off position into which the extraction means is brought by releasing the control mechanism that reassumes its shape so that the teeth are separated. The control mechanism comprises side walls that pivot around a horizontal pivot that is situated in the base and transmit their pivoting motion to the corresponding outer teeth. The base forms a hinge between the side walls and the outer teeth.
It is a disadvantage of the described epilation apparatus that the teeth do not close at the same instant in time as the outer teeth first need to transmit the pivoting force onto the more inner lying teeth. This implies that outer lying teeth need to be moved by twice the distance between the teeth to also close the inner teeth.